The Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP

July Column

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Privilege working with Alan Campbell - a hard act to follow

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Alan Campbell's announcement that he will be leaving Aberdeenshire Council later this year is a seminal moment for the authority. He has steered the council through its formative years with skill and a steady hand. He will be a hard act to follow.

I first met Alan in 1971 when I joined NESDA - the North East Scotland Development Authority - as Research and Information Officer. Alan was working in Aberdeen County Council's Clerk's department with special responsibility for NESDA so we had a lot to do with each other.

Although when I arrived the North East was still digesting the Gaskin Report which predicted economic and population decline for the region unless we could find a minimum of 16,000 jobs just to stabilise the economy.

We were certainly seeking to build on our traditional industries - especially food processing - but I doubt we would have come close to what was required had it not been for the advent of the oil and gas industry.

The influx of oil and gas operating and service companies grew to a near avalanche in the seventies and the pressure on our local authorities was intense.

Aberdeen County Council, under the political leadership of Maitland Mackie, supported by bright young administrators like Alan proved itself up to the task and the success of Aberdeen as Europe's Offshore Oil capital was no small thanks to a small team of which Alan was a key part.

I have no doubt that he learned then the right interface between business and local government to accommodate development and keep pace with providing infrastructure and services. Those are the qualities our local authorities still need.

I hope Aberdeenshire Council can find a successor capable of meeting the challenges of tomorrow. I am sure that Alan will find a role in the North East suited to his talents and of benefit to our community. Good luck to him.

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Local income tax fairer - but has to be local

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I have little doubt that local income tax is an inherently fairer system than the council tax for financing local government. Nevertheless, the proposals coming forward from the SNP administration at Holyrood, are anything but local and essentially unworkable.

There are two reasons for this. The first is that the SNP want the rate to be set by Ministers removing any scope for local discretion. The second is that the 3p rate, which is all the tax varying powers of the Scottish Parliament allows, would leave local councils even more dependent on grants from Edinburgh than they are now.

We know from bitter experience that North East Councils are the losers from this. The only system that will work for us is one that leaves more of the taxes raised locally in our area to fund local services and centralising parties which Labour, the Conservatives and the SNP all are, will not deliver this.

In addition, the SNP's proposals flawed as they are fatally undermined by their dependence on the current cost of council tax benefit being transferred to the Scottish Parliament Government's, which the Government have refused on the grounds that if council tax is abolished there is no case for council tax benefit.

In any case, it will be more efficient if the tax collection authorities administer any new system rather than requiring an expensive alternative collection system.

So we are left with a council tax freeze which has tightened John Swinney's control over our budget and is unlikely to lead to any radical change other than further erosion of local government.

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Can we find food and energy for 9 billion?

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For a world that became used to an era of cheap food the recent rise in prices has come as an unwelcome surprise. But if your food bills are uncomfortable think of some of the poorest people in the world who having just climbed out of perpetual hunger have been knocked back.

According to the World Bank 100 million more people are going to bed hungry this year compared with last year to add to the 850 million permanently hungry people. This has wiped out the benefits of 10 years of development aid.

Why has this sudden shift happened? Of course it is partly to do with poor harvests but also due to rising living standards in China and India as people eat more meat which produces a shift to grain feed for livestock.

Bio-fuels are blamed but apart from US maize this is probably minor. In any case, we need sustainable alternatives to oil and gas and sustainable bio-fuels, for example from sugar cane or by-products.

While it is accepted that prices will probably come off the peak most experts believe that food prices will stay high compared with recent years.

This ought to be good news for farmers but as local pig farmers will testify that is not necessarily so. A lot of the profits are being siphoned off by supermarkets and speculators which, using record low real interest rates in the USA, can buy up food commodities and force up prices for profit.

Nevertheless, against a background of a rising world population with rising aspirations we will have to rethink our agricultural policy worldwide.

That will include supporting more productive agriculture in developing countries for both small and larger scale producers and helping the growing numbers of urban poor who need affordable local food supplies.

It is complacent to assume that we can find the energy and food we will need to supply the basic needs of the 9 billion people the world population is heading for let alone meeting their rising aspirations.

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Last call to save post offices - for this round

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Next week is the closing date for representations to save our rural post office services.

In some ways we have escaped -for the time being- some of the more drastic closures we might have expected. However there is clearly concern at the proposals to close three full time offices for Rhynie, Lumsden and Kennethmont and people in Collieston face losing their shop and post office.

Rhynie, in particular, are making a strong case to keep a full time office. Lumsden is unhappy about the hours proposed for them and there was a mistake in the posters issued with the new part time hours for Kennethmont.

I will be chairing a public meeting in Rhynie next week which will be attended by post office representatives who will explain the proposals and respond to representations.

We have been faced with a steady erosion of post office services over the years and the lack of positive government support to maintain and develop our post offices has brought us to this pass.

If on top of the present round the Post Office fails to win the competitive bid to run the successor to the Post Office Card Account then there is almost certainly going to be another round of closures.

I have no doubt that community representatives and members of the public will make strong representations for better arrangements than those proposed and I will do my best to reinforce the case.

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Deterring good people from political office?

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Public pressures on high profile politicians and party leaders is clearly taking its toll. Wendy Alexander, for example, insisted she had followed legal advice over donations to her leadership campaign which, ironically never took place.

Nevertheless, continuous questioning and criticism led her to conclude she should resign.

Party leaders face almost constant intrusion into their personal lives and motives and the national media are happy to whip it up.

I wonder if journalists and broadcasters ever wonder what kind of people will in future be prepared to undergo this constant barrage of personal abuse and vilification which is also hurtful to family and friends.

I have met many people of talent and ability who have refused to get involved in politics not through lack of ideas or conviction but to avoid subjecting themselves and their families to false accusations and outpourings of vitriol as if politicians were somehow subhuman.

ENDS